by Erin Frankel ; illustrated by Paula Heaphy ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 2015
Didactic? Yes. And maybe Thomas’ and Kyle’s transformations are a bit too good to be true. But this is valuable nonetheless.
The team that created the Weird series presents another title about bullying, again emphasizing the three roles in bullying transactions—target, initiator, bystanders—and bringing home to readers what they can do to end bullying.
Whether it’s demeaning the activities Thomas enjoys, putting down his soccer plays, using insulting words, or being physically abusive, Kyle makes Thomas feel like a nobody. But Thomas’ friends and some trusted adults help him change his thinking: “Maybe Kyle is right. Maybe nobody is like me. And maybe that’s a GOOD thing!” Thomas decides “it’s time for a new story,” and though his courage isn’t what he might like, he takes the first step in standing up to Kyle, and his friends back him up. Heaphy does an excellent job portraying emotions through facial expressions and posture—Thomas is visibly cowed, and Kyle consistently leans forward threateningly. Kyle and Thomas are in full color, while the rest of the characters are done in black and white with small patches of color. The backmatter is especially valuable, breaking down the actions that Thomas, his friends, and Kyle took to help end the bullying, giving ideas about combating bullying and thinking differently about oneself, and providing parents with constructive discussion questions.
Didactic? Yes. And maybe Thomas’ and Kyle’s transformations are a bit too good to be true. But this is valuable nonetheless. (Picture book/bibliotherapy. 6-10)Pub Date: May 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-57542-495-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Free Spirit Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
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by Suzy Kline ; illustrated by Amy Wummer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 27, 2018
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.
A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.
Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47963-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
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by Shelley Johannes ; illustrated by Shelley Johannes ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 19, 2017
A kind child in a book for middle-grade readers? There’s no downside to that.
Beatrice Zinker is a kinder, gentler Judy Moody.
Beatrice doesn’t want to be fit in a box. Her first word was “WOW,” not “Mom.” She does her best thinking upside down and prefers to dress like a ninja. Like Judy Moody, she has patient parents and a somewhat annoying younger brother. (She also has a perfectly ordinary older sister.) Beatrice spends all summer planning a top-secret spy operation complete with secret codes and a secret language (pig Latin). But on the first day of third grade, her best friend, Lenny (short for Eleanor), shows up in a dress, with a new friend who wants to play veterinarian at recess. Beatrice, essentially a kind if somewhat quirky kid, struggles to see the upside of the situation and ends up with two friends instead of one. Line drawings on almost every spread add to the humor and make the book accessible to readers who might otherwise balk at its 160 pages. Thankfully, the rhymes in the text do not continue past the first chapter. Children will enjoy the frequent puns and Beatrice’s preference for climbing trees and hanging upside down. The story drifts dangerously close to pedantry when Beatrice asks for advice from a grandmotherly neighbor but is saved by likable characters and upside-down cake. Beatrice seems to be white; Lenny’s surname, Santos, suggests that she may be Latina; their school is a diverse one.
A kind child in a book for middle-grade readers? There’s no downside to that. (Fiction. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4847-6738-2
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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